Mom holds newborn for the first time after battling COVID-19

WORCESTER, Mass. - A Massachusetts mother who contracted the coronavirus while she was pregnant says her “heart was skipping” this week when she finally got to hold her new child – 28 days after he was born.

Sarah Chama delivered the boy, named Alex, by cesarean section at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester in late April. She checked into the facility at 26 weeks pregnant after experiencing dizziness. She tested positive for COVID-19 and, after her health deteriorated, Chama was put on a ventilator.

"My heart was skipping when I held him," Chama told WFXT on Wednesday after meeting her son for the first time. "I can't explain the feeling. I don't even know what to say. It's overwhelming."

Alex was born 2 pounds, 8 ounces at 27.5 weeks, and has since been gaining weight as he spends more time in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. Chama, meanwhile, expects to be discharged next week after recovering from the coronavirus.

"It felt like forever, not knowing how your child is and all that," she told WFXT from her hospital bed. "It was a painful experience to go through. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Chama is hoping Alex’s older brother and sister can meet him in a few weeks.